Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D- Delaware) has been chairman of the
Foreign Relations Committee since May 2001, when the balance of power in the
Senate shifted from the Republicans to the Democrats. Sen. Biden is also a member of the Judiciary Committee, the chairman of the Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs and
co-chair of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control.
During his 28 years in the Senate, he has focused on international
relations, arms control, crime prevention and drug control.

Some of the legislation Sen. Biden has authored includes the Juvenile
Crime Prevention and Control Act of 2001 and the Violent Crime Control
and Law Enforcement Act (including the Violence Against Women Act), signed into law in 1994. A supporter of the 1999 Comprehensive Nuclear
Test Ban Treaty, which was ultimately rejected, he’s in favor of arms
control agreements and is known to disagree with President Bush's plan
for a missile defense system. Sen. Biden has also published numerous editorials and articles on international
relations.

Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Sen. Biden grew up in New Castle
County, Delaware. He graduated from the University of Delaware in 1965,
and from the Syracuse University College of Law in 1968. Before being
elected to the Senate, Sen. Biden practiced law in Wilmington,
Delaware, and his political experience consisted of serving on the New
Castle County Council from 1970 to 1972. He briefly ran for the
presidency in 1988.